Tag Archives: Elvis Mitchell

Here‘s a great conversation between Wes and former New York Times film critic Elvis Mitchell. If you listened to the show Mitchell did with Jason Schwartzman before the film’s release, you know how good these are. Take a look at that post for more background on the show and host and links to previous Wes appearances.

Elvis hosts producer-writer-director Wes Anderson (Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou) to talk about his latest film, the stop-motion animation feature Fantastic Mr. Fox, based on the Roald Dahl book and featuring the voices of George Clooney, Jason Schwartzman and Meryl Streep.Anderson, who loved Dahl’s book, explains how he got permission from the Dhal family to use ‘Danny, the Champion of the World’ in his screenplay, and that he cast George Clooney, not because of his voice but because he’d always wanted to work with him. He reveals why he made the animals American and the humans British, and how he based the movements of Rat (voiced by Willem Dafoe) on the choreography of Bob Fosse. Finally, he discusses finding inspiration in Ray Harryhausen and the Brothers Quay, the importance of doing a stop-motion animation film with fur, and how this style involves more decision-making than a live-action film.

Schwartzman elaborates on his use of music in preparing for his roles, his appreciation for great writing, and working with Sofia Coppola and Wes Anderson. He also discusses his character in Bored to Death, a Brooklyn-based lovelorn writer-turned-private detective.

You can stream the show and download a podcast of it at KCRW’s website, where you can also listen to past shows with Wes Anderson (1999, 2002, 2004) and Noah Baumbach among many other great filmmakers. (KCRW also talked to Jason about some of his favorite songs last year, you can listen to that here.)